The Rudolf Steiner Archive

64a

Rudolf Steiner to Edouard Schuré
Thursday, March 26, 1908

Berlin, March 26, 1908

Dearest Friend!

On March 16, I sent the contract signed by me to Perrin ⁵. It was really only certain technical difficulties that delayed the matter. During the last few weeks, I have only been in Berlin for a few days. But first of all, I had to come to terms with my own situation regarding the publishing business with my German publisher. The book was first published by another publisher and was subsequently sold to the present one. But now everything is clear. At the time, I personally reserved all translation rights to this book. Therefore, I alone have the right to transfer the translation rights, and legally, the signature of my German publisher is not necessary. However, as a precaution, I did show the translation to the current publisher, and he took note of the advertisement.

So, as you can see, dear friend, it was just a few purely legal formalities with the German publisher that have been holding me up. Now everything is settled.

It is highly satisfying to me that this book of yours is being published in French. And it is fair to say that this book has a most fortunate karma in that it is being presented to the French reading public by the author of “The Great Initiates”.

How wonderful it was to have you with us in Basel. It was also wonderful to be there with you in terms of our esotericism and F.M.⁶. Much of all this must, of course, remain superficially in the form of hints at the ceremony under the present circumstances. But these beginnings will lead to further ones. It is an important thing that you, dearest friend, took part in these beginnings. And from the bottom of my heart, I not only said what I said in Basel, that through your participation the matter is promoted in the most glorious sense, but I knew myself, in saying this, in full agreement with the guiding spiritual powers of the R+.

The esoteric exercises we discussed in Barr will remain yours for some time. They contain much that should arise through meditation. After some time, we will discuss further ones.

In two hours we leave for Scandinavia. Lectures are planned in Lund, Stockholm, Upsala, Gothenburg, Christiania, Malmö and Copenhagen. Tonight I spoke here about “Sun, Moon and Stars” and on April 9th there will be another lecture here in Berlin about “The Beginning and End of the Earth”.

For today, just warmest regards to Madame Schuré from me and Miss v. Sivers; also to yourself from the latter and

your faithful Dr.
Rudolf Steiner

• 5. for the granting of the translation rights for “Christianity as Mystical Fact”. Perrin was Schuré's publisher.
• 6. Invited by Marie v. Sivers, Schuré was present at the cycle in Basel in November 1907. On this occasion, he was accepted into the 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees of the F.M.

73

Third will, dated July 4, 1910.

Will.

I, the undersigned, declare that after my death the following shall be deemed to be my will.

1. Upon my death, all of my correspondence, as well as all other written documents and letters written by me or written by others and addressed to me or handed over to me, become the property of Miss Marie von Sivers z. Z. residing at Berlin W Motzstraße 17. She alone shall decide at her discretion and in accordance with my intentions known to her, what is to be done with the characterized. The same applies to all documents in my possession.

2. After my death, Miss Marie von Sivers is to be considered the sole administrator of my literary estate; she is entitled to decide on new editions of my works, as well as on what of my manuscripts, speeches, etc. may be published.

3. My books and other possessions in the form of bank deposits or cash, as well as the proceeds of my works managed by Ms. von Sivers, are to be used by Ms. von Sivers at her discretion for my relatives (mother and two siblings) living in Horn in Lower Austria. In contrast, my wife, who is separated from me, is only entitled to the statutory compulsory portion; this applies to everything that is considered my property.

Miss von Sivers is to remain in possession of my books and is only to give the corresponding value to my named relatives, as well as the compulsory portion to my wife.

Ä Dr. Rudolf Steiner
Berlin, July 4, 1910
Motzstraße 17.

Additional note from 1915:

This will no longer exists, as it has been replaced by our joint will, which was drawn up by the notary Dr. Bischofswerder, a lawyer from Charlottenburg, Lutherstr. 13, and is deposited at the district court.

92

For Marie von Sivers' birthday

On her birthday: she was born on March 14, 1867 in what was then Russian Poland. For the old Julian calendar used in Russia, this was March 2, since the Orthodox Church had not adopted Pope Gregory XIII's calendar reform of 1582. She grew up in St. Petersburg and thus celebrated her birthday on March 2 (old style). When she came to Germany after the turn of the century, however, March 2 in the old style corresponded to March 15 in the new style, because the year 1900 was a leap year for the Julian calendar, but not for the Gregorian calendar. Later she returned to March 14.

[IMAGE REMOVED FROM PREVIEW]

93

Provision of the will dated April 20, 1911,
after the death of Anna Steiner, who died on March 19, 1911.

I hereby request Marie von Sivers, of Motzstraße 17, Berlin W, to immediately notify my relatives in Horn in Lower Austria after my death (no. 179) and to give them without hesitation what they need to live, as well as to ensure that my brother Gustav is provided for. M. v. Sivers herself is named in the will made in Berlin as the heir to my literary works, etc. This will applies in general, with the exception of the passage that refers to my wife, who has since passed away. Portorose near Piran, Istria, April 20, 1911

Dr. Rudolf Steiner

Apart from the money deposited in the names of Marie v. Sivers and myself, there is a sum in my name only at the Deutsche Bank, Berlin, M. Lutherstraße.

94

To Marie von Sivers in Portorož/Istria,
probably June 1911, from Berlin.

M. l. M. It will probably not be possible to start printing these 12 sheets yet — there were no more in the folder. If you can, translate a few more things, ¹⁵ to send them then. But Altmann writes that you want to start sending the manuscript now, and will be able to finish it by about —. This book must not be handed over to others for translation. It would be truly sinful. People translate anything and everything. And the work they produce — what people believe they are allowed to produce: it is simply terrible. I will send the book tomorrow morning. For now, I can only send this letter. It is late, and I can no longer send an X-[cross] band.

Warm regards, Rdlf.

• 15. Marie v. Sivers translated Edouard Schuré, “Die Heiligtümer des Orients (Agypten - Griechenland - Palästina)”, Leipzig 1912 im Verlag von Max Altmann.

95

To Marie von Sivers in Portorož/Istria
Saturday, June 3, 1911, from Berlin ¹⁶

M. l. M. After the two nights on the Trieste-Linz and Linz-Trieste [Linz-Munich] trains, I didn't want to spend a third night on the railroad, so I only left for here from Munich yesterday and am leaving for Copenhagen tonight.

Hopefully you are doing well, my dear. Please don't forget to take Silicia with you too. It's the last thing on your mind now.

I don't have a key to the cupboard in my room. I have one to the safe inside it. But I can't get to the safe just because the cupboard is locked. If it is possible, please send the key here so that I can find it when I return. But then it's not so necessary. I can go to the bank anyway and have the remaining amount determined. Should I then just set it up to be canceled quarterly?

With my warmest regards, Rdlf.

Date:

• 16. On June 2, Johanna Mücke wrote to Marie v. Sivers: “I just picked up the doctor at the train station.”

99

Addendum to the will dated September 7, 1911

Addendum to my will

I wish to add to this will that the provision regarding my wife no longer applies, as she has since died. There is therefore no claim to inheritance in this regard.

However, the other provisions remain in full force.

Dr. Rudolf Steiner

Berlin, September 7, 1911
Motzstraße 17.

106

To Marie von Sivers in Munich
Thursday, March 7, 1912, from Berlin

M. l. M. Telegrams and letters have arrived; I was not entirely happy with yesterday's telegram, because it reports a new swelling, which I actually don't quite understand. So far, I plan to arrive in Munich on Tuesday morning and arrange for our transfer to Berlin on Wednesday evening. And it will certainly be best if we can do it that way. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to write the planned letter to Mrs. Besant during these days in Berlin ⁹. I wanted to send it to you to translate. Hopefully I can do it in the next few days. It is very necessary. Because if something doesn't “happen”, even if it's just a rare clarification in a letter, we won't be able to get out of the turning shop around a point that isn't one. Everywhere I look, I see nothing but the purest talk-twisting with every inclination to degenerate into personal bickering.

Yesterday we had F.M. here for Günther Wagner's birthday.¹⁰ It was a strange affair, the like of which we have never seen before. Wagner's Italian daughter ¹¹ and Mrs. Knoch ¹² were also present. Regarding the former, I told both Wagner and the daughter herself that admission to this festival does not in any way oblige us to admit her to our F.M. gatherings in the future.

As for the Vollrath woman, there was no possibility of considering the case further. I have always emphasized that all members registered in the T.G. are admitted to branch meetings at which I speak. The Vollrath woman is a member: ¹³ So she could not be turned away. Of course, she can always attend lodge meetings in all places where I do not speak. That goes without saying. I therefore had the Vollrath woman write to me in response to a request she made by letter through the pneumatic tube: because it has become a principle not to turn away members when I speak in a lodge, we cannot turn her away. To mistake such a formulation for an invitation rather than a rejection is entirely in keeping with the recipient. But the Vollrath woman came. So there was nothing to be done. But I also think it's good that we are behaving this way. M. |. M., we really have enough on our hands with the Vollrath case. I don't see why we should be made to look even slightly unjust. At first, Mrs. Wolfram found Mrs. Vollrath to be an excellent member, just like Mr. Müller.¹⁴ Then she called her a “noodle”. That may all be. But there is also a lot more. And we have no reason to be reviled as the T.G.'s lackeys. I am quite clear that if I also explain the nonsense in the “Müller case” and many other things connected with it, you will no longer say that I have given in to the demands of the Vollrath woman, but you will realize that it is stronger not to break a principle in such a case (you don't have to be a stickler for principles) than to form a special judgment for a course of action in every single case.

Now I can't write any more; I have to pack, because I have to leave for Mannheim today, Thursday, at 10 a.m., because the public lecture is there tomorrow. So I have to have the not at all easy pastor ¹⁵ for the whole day.

Kind regards, Rdlf.

• 9. in response to her letters dated January 4 and 25, 1912, from India. The letter was not written until March 30.
• 10. he turned 70 on March 6.
• 11. Gretchen Boggiani (born 1877), member of the Italian section of the T.G.
• 12. Ida Knoch, née Wagner (1871-1946), member in Hannover since March 1906.
• 13. However, she had been removed from the section's lists in 1910, which Rudolf Steiner apparently did not know.
• 14. Curt Richard Müller, a member in Leipzig since May 1911, submitted a request in December 1911 to readmit Hugo Vollrath, who left the section in 1912.
• 15. Paul Klein (1871-1957), member since May 1910, chairman of the Mannheim branch founded in February 1908. See “Contributions to the Rudolf Steiner Complete Edition”, No. 120.

114

To Rudolf Steiner in Berlin
Wednesday, April 9, 1913, from Meran-Obermais

(first letter missing)

9/IV second letter

Dear E.

I have just read through what Mr. v. Rainer gave me for the “Mitteilungen”, if you approve. He has rewritten (stenographed), he said, I think, what you said about the Schröder Trading Company.¹⁷ It seems to me that it needs a great deal of revision. There is probably neither time nor space in these “Messages” to include it. Perhaps in the next one?

Now I'm going to the train station to pick up Pauline and Sophie.

My thoughts are with you. M.

• 17. Refers to comments made by Rudolf Steiner on February 6, 1913 during the General Assembly in Berlin about a Schröder and Ritter v. Rainer wanted to found a trading company called “Ceres”. The latter ran a mill and bakery at his castle Mageregg near Klagenfurt, where a quality bread known as Rainer-Brot was produced. In January 1913, the members were approached with a corresponding appeal to the anthroposophical friends, which was discussed on February 6. The notes mentioned did not appear in the Scholl Notes. From the very fragmentary notes of Rudolf Steiner's remarks, it is clear that he was reluctant to support this project.
  Johannes Gottfried William Schröder (1870-1942), a merchant from Bremen, has been a member of the German Section since December 1906 and is the head of the Bremen branch.

115

To Rudolf Steiner in Berlin
Sunday, April 20, 1913, from Meran-Obermais

20/IV 13

L.E

I am very pleased that we have been able to put on a play.¹⁸ But since it is already booked for August 16, we would probably be better off scheduling Christiania and Bergen for October 1 or September 20. What do you think? For the two pieces, two new ones that have yet to be written,¹⁹ and which we will have to rehearse endlessly to make a success of. Schuré's will be very difficult to rehearse.

Oh, my poor E., how is the rascal behaving? ²⁰ She has behaved quite horribly here — and should regard it as a moral defeat that forces her to improve. But I fear she is not on this path now because she wants to achieve various things.

Altmann is insolent. I am going along with it because you want it and because I have the hope that if he fails and we are his debtors [creditors], he will then have no claims to further editions of your works, and above all he has no right to sell his publishing rights further. Above all, you have to make sure of something like that; then everything has to come from you into our hands. If he asks for a second loan, I will only give it on condition that we get your books back, with all rights attached. Schwetschke is already in your debt. Felber was. Now Altmann. Are they going to defraud us all? (Kuhn too). Please don't miss anything in the next edition of 'Occult Science' so that we have proof when you are cheated again. It would be really good if I could save your books from the shipwreck again.²¹ Just make sure they don't fall into Vollrath's hands. Please secure yourself. I also want a promissory note.

Mrs. Fröbe ²² has again written a melodramatic begging letter – I no longer trust the style.

The Indian dispatch was confirmed on various occasions and still had “Judgment for Plaintiff. Leadbeater's” as an attachment. ²³

Besant will hardly appear in Stockholm? ²⁴

A thousand warm greetings,

M.

• 18. Since the Munich Gärtnerplatz Theater, which had been used for the annual mystery plays in previous years, was being rebuilt and the other Munich theaters were either too small or otherwise occupied, there had been fears either not to be able to perform at all this summer (1913) or to have to perform at a different venue. But then it was possible to rent the Volkstheater with 1200 seats from August 16-22, 1913.
• 19. Refers to the fourth mystery drama by Rudolf Steiner, “The Soul's Awakening”, and the drama by Edouard Schuré, “The Soul's Guardian”. For this announced drama, Marie v. Sivers and Rudolf Steiner have created a new text, which is available in manuscript form. However, the translation breaks off at the third act, because the performance did not take place due to the large number of people who wanted to attend.
• 20. Mieta Waller.
• 21. Marie v. Sivers founded a publishing house for Rudolf Steiner's works in 1908: “Philosophisch-Theosophischer Verlag”, from 1913 ‘Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag’, and bought the remaining stocks of ‘Philosophy of Freedom’, ‘Truth and Science’ and ‘Goethe's World View’ from the financially troubled publisher Felber, which had disappeared from the book trade.
• 22. Irma Fröbe, widow of Dr. Robert Fröbe in Vienna, who translated “Secret Doctrine” by H.P. Blavatsky into German at the instigation of Dr. Franz Hartmann. In the archives there is a begging letter from her dated July 19, 1912 and the corresponding thank-you letter dated July 22, 1912, but the new letter referred to here has not been preserved.
• 23. Refers to the court ruling handed down in Madras on April 15, 1913 in the first of the lawsuits that Krishnamurti's father brought against Annie Besant. He demanded the return of his two sons Krishnamurti and Nitya, who had been entrusted to her for education, because she had given the same C.W. Leadbeater for education, whose influence on the boys he considered harmful. 23
• 24. Rudolf Steiner and Marie v. Sivers were on their way back from Helsinki to give lectures in Stockholm from June 8-10, 1913, where the Theosophical Society was holding the 7th congress of the “Federation of the National Societies in Europe”.